Eyre Feels Welcomed In Philadelphia

Rich Hoffman has a very good, anecdotal piece about Scott Eyre in today’s Daily News. Eyre says he’s sad some of his Cub friends were eliminated from the playoffs, but that emotion is quickly washed by joy because he’s in Philadelphia.

Moreover, he starts to break, close to tears, talking about his reclamation as a late-innings reliever. Back in Chicago he was reduced to waiver trash because of an injury and two poor performances, post-injury.

The most interesting part of the piece is Eyre’s recollection of the better half of 2007, when Piniella mispronounced his name … and meant it.

“Lou called me the wrong name to my face. He called me ‘Stevie Ire.’ I’m sorry, that’s wrong. The only thing I wish is that he never one time said, ‘Hey, that’s my bad.’ It was just kind of accepted, just funny to him. Me, personally, I would have liked an apology. If I had called somebody the wrong name for three months — and I don’t know if he did it on purpose; who knows? — I think I would have said, ‘Hey, that’s my bad for messing up your name.'”

Wow. We know about Piniella’s gruff exterior, and maybe that’s part of the reason the Cubs were so tight against the Dodgers. Then you look at Charlie Manuel, who said — in a piece about Eyre — that he makes sure to talk to every player before leaving the clubhouse. Is there something there? I think so.